Musical memory

[Quijote]

‘Like sex and religion, we don’t like to talk about memory’: pianist Angela Hewitt on how she keeps hers in shape

From eavesdropping to iPads and beetles to Bach, the pianist reflects on the extraordinary feats of memory required of concert soloists, and how she continues to exercise that muscle

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...-memory-muscle

[Peter]

Thanks for that very interesting and refreshingly honest article. Some people are capable of the most prodigious feats of memory - just one example is the 10 year old Saint-Saens who could play any Beethoven sonata requested of him from memory. Usually we teach the 4 main memory types, tactile, aural, visual and the most important, analytical. It is incredible how suggestive the mind is and I can give one example from my own experience. I was learning the Rachmaninov prelude in Eb Op.23/6 and my teacher mentioned that it was tricky to memorise, a fact I hadn't considered up till that point as I could play it without any slips. Then came the performance at a music festival and sure enough it happened - the trick is being able to recover quickly and though I did skip out several bars, it joined together fairly seamlessly and finished well!

[Chris]

I've noticed that about my memory as well - it's all fine until you start thinking about it!

[Sorrano]

Thanks for that very interesting and refreshingly honest article. Some people are capable of the most prodigious feats of memory - just one example is the 10 year old Saint-Saens who could play any Beethoven sonata requested of him from memory. Usually we teach the 4 main memory types, tactile, aural, visual and the most important, analytical. It is incredible how suggestive the mind is and I can give one example from my own experience. I was learning the Rachmaninov prelude in Eb Op.23/6 and my teacher mentioned that it was tricky to memorise, a fact I hadn't considered up till that point as I could play it without any slips. Then came the performance at a music festival and sure enough it happened - the trick is being able to recover quickly and though I did skip out several bars, it joined together fairly seamlessly and finished well!

You did better than I, I'm afraid. It was a different prelude that I was playing and I had always thought well of my ability to memorize music, but during the performance my mind went completely blank about halfway through. I managed to repeat the first part (not everyone noticed, but some did) but still ran into the memory roadblock and just stopped, got up, and said, "Sorry, I can't remember the rest."

[Quijote]

Well, I tell you what, guys, my memory's pretty good. Want proof? I remember an article about playing from memory vs. using a score written by pianist Susan Tomes that I believe I posted here years ago (2007). And here it is:

All in the mind
Play from memory and you might forget what note comes next. Use the score and you'll perform better. So why the snobbery about sheet music, asks pianist Susan Tomes

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...musicandopera1

[Megan]

I suppose really if you had the music score in front of you while performing, you would need a page turner?

[Listener]

‘Like sex and religion, we don’t like to talk about memory’: pianist Angela Hewitt on how she keeps hers in shape

From eavesdropping to iPads and beetles to Bach, the pianist reflects on the extraordinary feats of memory required of concert soloists, and how she continues to exercise that muscle

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...-memory-muscle

Brilliant article - a great read. I've never been able to play from memory (well, never really tried), and I do remember reading that Beethoven was very much against people memorising his music. Wonder if I can remember where I read it?

[Sorrano]

Seems I recall Beethoven playing a concerto from a score he had not yet completed. The page turner was a bit perplexed as to when to turn the pages.

[Quijote]

Brilliant article - a great read. I've never been able to play from memory (well, never really tried), and I do remember reading that Beethoven was very much against people memorising his music. Wonder if I can remember where I read it?

Well, I mentioned an article about this very point just above. You must have forgotten. Hah!!
Here it is again: https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...musicandopera1

[Quijote]

[QUOTE=Listener]

Brilliant article - a great read. I've never been able to play from memory (well, never really tried), and I do remember reading that Beethoven was very much against people memorising his music. Wonder if I can remember where I read it?[/QUOTE]

Here is an extract from the article by Susan Tomes I posted above (#5):

It's not as if composers require musicians to memorise. In Beethoven's day, his pupil Carl Czerny apparently had such a phenomenal memory that, as a teenager, he could play all his master's works by heart. But Beethoven disapproved, saying it would make him casual about detailed markings on the score. Chopin was angry when he heard that one of his pupils was intending to play him a Nocturne from memory.